Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1887-03-02
THE USEFUL PIN.
Where This Indispensable Littls
Article Comes From
The American Product Better and Cheapef
Than the Br;ti,h. nat tho Latter
Observation-Disclosures of Pln-
siadng Machinery.
fCfsicago NALL
see q pin aud pick it up.

Where Is the boy or girl among English
people who has not heard these two littl6
linesf Where is the Individual Young or
old, who has not tested its trutkfulness q
hundred times in his lifei Their author is un,
known, for none thought either to save
the couplet or its author from tho wreck
of time, but the former lives, notwith-,
standing. Perhaps the author was some
thrifty housewife, who perceived how
amazingly and mysteriously the pins dis
appeared, and who took this simple meth
cd of appealing to superstition to enjoan
economy and thrift. There Is no telling
this, however, for the author was lust as
likely avcrse- -ma,lcr or a coachman.
This commoncst Of all toilet articles, the
pin, is OF very ancient. seryite. Possibly
the earliest known Que vas tie thorn with
which doubtless Mother Eve p!rned her
dress of fg-leavcs together Pins and
brooches of aristocratic design, and oft
times exhibiting marvellous ingenuity,
were very generally in use among the an
csents. They were lavishly worn by them
upon oil occasions. Pins, however, do not
seem to have been used much by the early,
Germans. Instead of pins they used q
thorn, as Tecitus, the historian, in dcscrib>
ing these people, says: THE clothing COM
mon to all is a kind of mantle fastened by
clasp, or, in want of that. thorn" They
NShC IL ~ lnNOOuCCN III IuSldLU III l1Ou.
Their manufacture soon became so i'm
portant an industry that tho importa.
ton OF them in England was pro-
hibited by statute In i4S3 Later:
in 1913, England received her supply
of tho article from Franco, and an act was
passed providing that "no perso, shall riut
or sale any pinnes but only such as shallbe
double-hcaded, and have the head soldsred
fast to the shanxs of the pinnes, well
smethed, the shall well shapcn, the
points well round, fled, cauled and sharp
cned."
Then, as now, pins were male of bra ss
or of iron, but instea1 of being made Of
one piece as now, it was then made OF
shank of one piece and piece of fine wire
wound around one end OF the shank for q
head. The other end of the shank was
then sharpened. In 1926 the extensive
manufacture OF the article was introduced
in Gloucester by John TIlsby. The
business flourished under his direction
and he soon gave employment to 1900
persons. AS early as 1775 the industry
was introduced among the colonists Inf
Carolina, who, to induce the manufacture
of thom in this country, offered
prizes for the first homemade
pins and needles. At a later date
several pin n-making machines were invent,
ed, but the odd forms Of these pins first,
made by machinery are obsolete, save IN,
the memory of vcfy old citizens. The
points which ingenuity applied itself to
better wero tho formation and the at.
tachment of the head to the pin. The irst
product was oftentimss mDerfect. kn
the operations Of STRENGTHENING the wire,
cutting, pointing, etc, were separately
performed, and it was watching these nu,
merous details connected with the produc,
tim nf a ,,ip hot koH q
Adam Smith the great advantages OF the
division of labor.
The first pin-making machine of the
kind that is now used was invented by
Seth Hunt in 1917, but it was greatly mod.
flied and improved upon by Lemuel b.
Wright in 1924 After the invention of
MIR. Wr ights machine The price OF
pins fell enormously and the de-
mand increased, for at the close of the
war of 1872 the price had gone away up.
The successful manufacturc by machinery
in this country was not obtained, however,
till in 1885, Since then the growth in the
manufacture has steadily increased, until
to-day it is estimated that from 400 to 6I
tons of iron are used annually in making
them, aud the product of which Is valued
at SG15,G90 1t is said that 100000 are
manufactured annually in the Unitcd
Kingdom, of which %, ,0)ao o0a are made in
birmingham alone. The eaggreg gate weight
Of brass and iron used in this production is
placed at l,o75 tons, onc-eighth being iron
wire. The whole British trade in pins il
estimated at 222,eO) POUNDS, or above
SI.ooo,o00 per year.
In Toledo, o., there is firm that makes,
5,0o),00 pins daily, most of which is sold
west Of Tie Ohio river, the Eastern trade
being supplied largely by Eastern manu-
facture-s. This same firm in Toledo sells
at least 1,0)o,030 daily or 35p,0)),0 ,0o) annu-
ally in Chicago. The latest improved ma.
chine can MAKE them at thu rate of 400 per
minute, or 3)0,0oo per dav. They are stuck
in paper at the rate of 100 per minute
good many English-made pins are still
sold here--not because they are any better
in quality, but because 'sthey are English,
you know" The duty on the imported
stock is 30 por cent, which makcs them
cost the consumer 10 cents a paper, or z
cents more than tho American pin.
Even If this duty was taken off, this
English pin could not be sold as
cheap as the Amcrican-made article.
A good many of the English brands that
are sold here arc bogus, they being nothing
but the common. everyday American pin.
1t Is not a very infrequent occurrence to
sec lady come into a store and ask for
paper Of pins. She is handed payer with
an American brand on it. She hands II
back, saying she wants an imported pin
From the same box sometimes, and made
by the same factory, the clerk hands her
a"Queen's Own or the Grown Jewell
The first costs eight cents, the latter cost
fifteen cents each. In the former paper
there arc 36) pins and in the latter only
300 But this makes no difference. The
lady will choose the latter, and will go out
of the store with self-satislei expres-
sion on her face.